Angelina Jolie - Queen of Hearts

Angelina Jolie, a Hollywood icon, a loving humanitarian, a heart-breaker, a mother, an outstanding actress. Angelina has dominated our screens for the past 14 years.

A controversial woman, one who has caused tongues to wag in almost every country over the last few years. Be it for her amazing humanitarian work across the globe, her infamous love affair with Brad Pitt, her strange habits or her outstanding acting ability - Angelina is either a woman that you'll love, or a woman that you'll hate.

I'm not going to lie, I was one of the Jennifer Aniston supporters when news first broke out of the affair between Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. I couldn't believe it. Here was Hollywood's golden couple, going into their 6th year of marriage and now it was being torn apart by this sultry, man-eater. I also couldn't understand what all the fascination was with this woman. Yes, she's pleasing on the eye - but the way that some men (and women) were carrying on a few years ago, you'd swear she was some kind of goddess sent down to earth who'd cast a spell on thousands of hot-blooded men, and a few women. I just didn't get it.

Fast forward a few years, and I'll admit that I've done a full 180^o turn - I've now joined the masses, for I too am one huge Angelina Jolie fan.

Why? Certainly not for the way she stole the limelight or squeezed her way in between Brad and Jennifer, but then again - who are we to judge this? Do we really know everything that happened behind closed doors in that marriage? The media creates drama when there is none, or they blow it way out of proportion when it can simply be sorted out privately. Of course, Brad and Angelina holding hands on the red carpet while he was still married to Jennifer didn't help to fuel the speculation. I'm not condoning what happened, all I'm saying is that we might not know everything that went on. There are many layers to a marriage, for all we know it was crumbling and that was the cherry on the top.

My opinion of Brad Pitt also went down during that time, I couldn't believe that he'd just thrown away his marriage to a beautiful woman, to some home-wrecker who many believed to be God's gift to men.. Looking back now, I've changed my opinion quite a bit. I believe Brad fell in love with a different type of woman than the one the media spend their lives trying to portray. Not some man-eating vixen, but a kind, caring and nurturing woman who just happens to be famous and good looking.

Today, I have the greatest respect for this woman. Say what you like about her, I don't know any other celebrity who has gone to the lengths that she has to help people in need, around the world for as long as she has.

• Her humanitarian work. She's been involved in worldwide humanitarian projects from her time of filing Tomb Raider in Cambodia in 2001.
• In 2001, she visited Sierra Leone and Tanzania for an 18-day field trip to witness the conditions in the refugee camps.
• She covered all costs relating to her missions.
• Since 2001, Angelina has been on field missions around the world and met with refugees and internally displaced people in more than 30 countries.
• In 2012, she was promoted to the rank of Special Envoy of High Commissioner Antonio Gueterres of the UNHCR.
• She uses her public profile to promote awareness and has become involved in promoting humanitarian causes on a political level.
• In 2003, she founded the Maddox Jolie-Pitt Foundation, a dedicated community development and environmental conservation in Cambodia.
• In 2007, she founded the Education Partnership for Children of Conflict, which funds education programs for children affected by natural or man-made disasters.
• She was awarded the Global Humanitarian Award by the UNA-USA in 2005.
• She's also won Citizen of the World Award, the Freedom Award, and received a gold pin presented by Antonio Guterres, for the most long-serving staff member, in recognition for her decade as UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador.

Few people would have put Angelina Jolie and "loving family woman" together in the same sentence a few years ago. I was one of those people who secretly hoped the relationship with Brad Pitt would fall apart, and I really didn't think they'd manage to keep their ever expanding family together. But she has, and they have. I have the greatest respect for the family life that she has created.

• Angelina and Brad have been together for the past 7 years, and have recently announced their engagement (April 2012)
• Angelina adopted her first child, Maddox Chivan from Cambodia in 2002
• In 2005, she adopted her second child from Ethiopia - Zahara
• Angelina's first biological child was born in May 2006, Shiloh Nouvel in Namibia
• In 2007, she adopted 3 year old Pax from a village in Vietnam
• Angelina gave birth to twins, Vivienne Marcheline and Knox Leon in France in 2008

• Full name - Angelina Jolie Voight
• Born on 4 June 1975
• Nicknames - Angie, Ange, AJ
• She has mixed ancestry which is Slovak, French-Canadian, Iroquois and English
• Brought up in Los Angeles, California by her father - Academy Award-winning actor, Jon Voight
• Her love of acting began when she was 11 and started studying at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute
• She began a career in modeling soon after
• She has appeared in music videos for Meat Loaf and Lenny Kravitz
• She has 14 known tattoos that include a latin proverb and six sets of geographical coordinates indicating the origins of her children
• In 2006 and 2008 she was named by Forbes as one of Hollywood's highest-paid actresses
• People named her one of 2012's Most Beautiful at Every Age